REVIEW: The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner

Last month Jane, Jia and I embarked on Keishon’s TBR challenge 2009. This time Keishon’s suggestion is a book that AAR has rated as a DIK (Desert Isle Keeper). While scanning through AAR’s list of DIK reviews, I was excited to unearth Rike’s review of your Thief Series.

Back in July of 2007, I reviewed the first book in this series, The Thief, and in January of 2008, I reviewed The Queen of Attolia. While neither book received an A grade from me, the ending of The Queen of Attolia was so compelling that I was salivating to read the third book when I finished the second.

But other reviewing commitments delayed my reading it and then my life got so busy that I barely had time to read a thing. The consequence was that The King of Attolia has languished on my bookshelf far too long. Happily, the TBR challenge was the excuse I needed to pick it up and finish this set of reviews.

It is impossible to discuss the third book without giving MASSIVE SPOILERS for the first two. Readers who haven’t read The Thief or The Queen of Attolia and want to avoid spoilers for these books should read no further.

The three books are set in a fantastical world based on the Mediterranean (Greece in particular) and deal with the three kingdoms of Sounis, Eddis and Attolia. This third book focuses mostly on Attolia.

As The King of Attolia opens, Eugenides, master thief of the kingdom of Eddis, has married the Queen of Attolia, who once cut off his hand, and in doing so, become Attolia’s King. But most of the Attolian court and the queen’s guard have nothing but contempt for Eugenides.

The Attolian custom is that a new bride goes to her husband’s bedroom on their wedding night, but in Eddis the groom is the one to visit his wife. The corridor between the king and queen’s apartments is full of attendants, so it is widely known that neither Attolia (as the queen is called) nor her new husband has traversed that distance.

Eugenides lacks the demeanor of a king, and he seems to most Attolians to be a childish fool. Among those who despise the new king is Costis, a member of the queen’s guard. One day, in a moment of rage he can’t even understand himself, Costis hits Eugenides in the mouth, despite his being king and having only one hand.

Costis fully expects to be tortured and then hanged for treason. But he is unexpectedly pardoned by the king, who comes to visit him in his rooms. Costis is then called to attend on the king. While spending time in Eugenides’ vicinity, Costis observes the king’s attendants and the palace guard making a fool of the king with little tricks, like staining his clothing, and making jokes at his expense.

Yet even as he tells himself how little respect he has for the king, Costis begins to hate him less. The more time he spends in the king’s company, the more puzzled Costis grows at the king’s relationship with the queen. He finds himself torn between his loyalty to the men he serves with, who despise the king, his fealty to the queen, whom he reveres, and what his own sense of honor demands of him.

Costis senses there are machinations in the palace, plots against the king, but is uncertain what, if anything, he should do about it, and whether there may be, after all, a point in protecting Attolia’s King.

The King of Attolia is a thrilling book, especially to anyone who has read the previous two books in the series.

Most, though not all, of the scenes are written from the viewpoint of Costis, and he is a very likable character — honest, loyal, brave, and above all, honorable. His dilemmas where the king and the other palace power players are concerned are understandable and involving.

Readers of The Thief and The Queen of Attolia know that Eugenides is nobody’s fool, even when Costis doesn’t realize it, so it’s delightful to see the thief king’s cleverness at work as he himself fools many of Attolia’s nobles. The plot takes unexpected twists but Eugenides is always two steps ahead of everyone but his queen.

The relationship between Eugenides and the older (and even taller!) Attolia is incredibly romantic. Here, as elsewhere in Eugenides’ life, things aren’t what they appear to be, and Attolia, who has a reputation for ruthlessness and whose very name instills fear in so many, has a soft spot where her new husband is concerned. Theirs is a relationship between two highly intelligent people who are sometimes tortured by their past and who must outthink their many enemies and rivals.

But the most thrilling thing about the book is the character of Eugenides. Readers who have been following his adventures since The Thief have the chance to see him grow from a daring boy into a haunted man and now into a worthy leader for the kingdom of Attolia.

There is so much complexity in your portrayal of Eugenides that I’m in awe of the way you have bound maturity and boyishness, ruthlessness and vulnerability, cleverness and devotion, into this one character. It is this portrayal that makes The King of Attolia one of the most engrossing and satisfying young adult books I have ever read. 2010 and book four can’t come soon enough for me. A-/A.

Janine–I thoroughly enjoyed this series and I hope there will be further books. My favorite is QUEEN. I have to admit I found Costis a little dull in KING so I wasn’t crazy over his narration and it took away from my enjoyment a little. Despite that, I continued to love Eugenides, of course! And I did find it romantic, more so than QUEEN.

Maya–to me QUEEN and KING don’t really read like YA, but that said my then 12-year-old son read them a couple of years ago and liked them. I think it is fairly easy for a younger reader to not focus the more difficult aspects of the books, if that makes sense. It’s sophisticated, subtle storytelling with lots to offer different ages of readers. So Gen’s pain in QUEEN was painful for me, but for my son it was just an adventure. Needless to say he’s just one data point, but I thought I’d offer it.

I recently read about this series and I put them on my my TBR list. I didn’t read the review because of the spoilers but I must say that the good grades give me hope that the books will be as good as I heard.

I love this series. Gen is one of the most interesting, complicated characters I have ever read.

Spoilerish:
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One of the parts that sticks with me is from ‘Queen of Attolia,' when Attolia is talking to Eddis, trying to make up her mind about marrying Gen. Attolia tells Eddis, â€œHe's never lied to you.â€
Eddis laughs and says something like: â€œOf course he's lied to me. He lies to everyone. He lies to himself. If he talked in his sleep, he'd lie then too.â€
And I realized that Gen had spent most of the first book in the series lying to ME. Yeah, he really does lie to everyone, doesn't he?

Janine-I thoroughly enjoyed this series and I hope there will be further books. My favorite is QUEEN. I have to admit I found Costis a little dull in KING so I wasn't crazy over his narration and it took away from my enjoyment a little. Despite that, I continued to love Eugenides, of course! And I did find it romantic, more so than QUEEN.

I liked Costis, and I found it interesting to see Eugenides through the eyes of someone who had no idea what he was really like. I thought it was a fascinating window into the way Gen’s deceptions worked.

In the AAR review of the Thief series, Rike compares Eugenides to Lymond. And even though I’ve only read the first Lymond book, I can see the similarity. I actually prefer this series to what I’ve read of the Lymond chronicles, because I find Turner’s writing style more readable than Dunnett’s, and also because there’s been more subtlety, I feel. When I was reading Dunnett’s The Game of Kings, I felt that I was supposed to be impressed with Lymond’s cleverness, and that actually made me inclined to be less so. I’m not sure why, but with this series, I don’t feel that to the same degree.

Gail,

I’m glad you enjoyed them too. I saw on Wikipedia that there’s a fourth book expected to be out next year sometime. I’d rather have it now too, but if it’s of the same quality as TKoA, I’m more than willing to wait.

SandyW — Agree that Eugenides is a very complex character. I actually feel he has become more so over the course of the series, or maybe it’s that he shows different facets of himself in each book. Also, the missing hand has forced him to compensate and develop other aspects of himself more.

Your mention of that scene makes me want to go back and read The Queen of Attolia. I so love the relationship between Eugenides and Attolia. I love the way Turner flips gender steretoypes on their head, and makes Attolia the older, harder-edged, and more cynical of the two. And yet, the romance totally works.

I liked Costis, and I found it interesting to see Eugenides through the eyes of someone who had no idea what he was really like. I thought it was a fascinating window into the way Gen's deceptions worked.

Janine–I do like what Turner does with points of view in this series, from book 1 to book 3, even if KING wasn’t entirely successful for me. (It’s all relative though. I mean I gave this a B+!)

As for Lymond, well, those six books were probably the most satisfying reading experience of my life. I think they grow in depth and complexity as the series continues, though Lymond is not always likable, certainly. However, I’m always reluctant to really urge people to read the Lymond Chronicles (not to say you’re particularly inclined) because one book broke my heart and it took me years to recover.

As for Lymond, well, those six books were probably the most satisfying reading experience of my life.

I have three good friends who love the Lymond books almost as much as you do. Jennie here at DA adores them, and so does my crit partner Meredith Duran. My tastes and theirs usually align very well, so it’s a mystery to me why they haven’t in this case. But I don’t think I will be reading on, because it took me over a month to finish the first Lymond book, and now that I am reviewing, I need to read faster than that.

I love this series. Along the lines of the comparison to Lymond, I always think of Miles Vorkosigan when I reread The Thief. Although Gen isn’t a babbling Mad Miles, he certainly manages to manipulate events to his own end.

jmc, glad you enjoyed them too. I need to read those Miles books! I read Barrayar and enjoyed it very much. Then I read Cordelia’s Honor and enjoyed it a bit less. I have been wanting to give Bujold another try, though.

Janine – I think Shards of Honour suffers a bit from being the first book – but it’s worth reading on just for Miles. All the things you like about Eugenides – the character growth, the complexity of the character: Miles has those by the bucket load.

I really enjoyed the Attolia books, though unlike you ‘King’ was my least favourite – and I agree with Jorrie that it was probably that Costis wasn’t as interesting a character. But still, a good book.

Thanks Marianne. I’m glad you like this series too. It is interesting, the different responses to the different books in the series. Eugenides was too youthful for my taste in The Thief. For me he just becomes more and more fascinating over time, as he matures.

What I found interesting about Costis was the way he was torn about what the right thing to do was. He wasn’t as clever as Eugenides, but he was honorable and his heart was in the right place. I do love characters who face moral dilemmas, so maybe that was why Costis appealed to me.

Ah, I am pleased :-) Now only to persuade Jane, Jayne and I’m not sure Jia has read them yet. Costis. What a bland character eh? At the start, I couldn’t fathom why he was the character we had to follow but he served a purpose. I was bored with Costis initially but from my experience with this author, she loves to give surprises and surprise us she did. I love this series. It was excellent. So happy you reviewed here at DA.

It really is a shame that some readers will not pick up these books if they are tagged as YA. After the first book, The Thief, the follow-up titles, The Queen of Attolia and The King of Attolia have a complex plots, enough to make you forget these are aimed at young adults. I will buy her next book in this series.

I may just have to reread these books again just from you bringing it up. Great review and hope many readers out there will pick up these books.

I had a feeling you would like this review, Keishon. :) And actually I have sent the first book to Jayne. I don’t know if Jia has read them or not, and I would love to know actually.

I will definitely be buying the next book as well. I get the feeling that the Medes are going to return, and I want to know what happened to Sophos… I hope the Queen of Eddis doesn’t have to marry the King of Sounis. All in all, I can’t wait to find out more!

My love for this book is endless. The one thing I would like to point out is how absolutely gorgeous the cover is and how well it transmits the feeling of the book. I mean we have the scar on the cheek, the correct hand holding the sword, the ring, the fancy gold on the sleeves and Attolia’s hand on his shoulder. Sigh. Also loved the scene where Costis looks deeply into Eugenides’ eyes and realizes there is more to Eugenides than on the surface, and realizes he now is completely loyal but then worries what would happen if Eugenides and Attolia would give him opposite orders.

Also the whole “gold cups” scene was fantastic. Also the end fight scene is the BEST fight scene EVER.

Hey Michelle, I’m so glad you posted a comment because I was thinking of you when I wrote the review. I remembered your enthusiasm for the series from my reviews of the earlier books and it (along with Keishon’s and another friend’s) encouraged me to persist. I’m so glad I did. I loved the fight scene and the gold cups too!

But re. the cover. It is lovely (I really like the gold filigree on the black background) but I do have one problem with it, which is that Eugenides looks so young! I mean, I know he is young but he looks almost like a child to me in that cover illustration. Makes me feel like a cradle robber…

I just bought this book– two in one day from DA reviews, that is a record. But I don’t know parents pick books for their children though. I looked at the recommendations for this book and one source said grades 7 and up. Another one said grades 9-11 and the product details said ages 9-12. I guess we can assume that last one meant grades 9-12.

With regard to the book 2, I would note that a similar incident in a movie about Vikings gave my brother and I great bloodthirsty joy when we were about 10 and 9.

DS, have you read the earlier books? I would advise starting with The Thief if you don’t mind books or younger audiences, or with The Queen of Attolia if you prefer a more grown up story with romance in it. I think you will enjoy The King of Attolia more if you read The Queen of Attolia first at least. I hope you enjoy it!

You really do need to read the books in order to get the most out of them. I really hope more romance fans read the series. I really do think it has one of the most romantic story lines.

It is funny in so many books the question is did the author really redeem the hero. While in this series you have a woman commit a barbaric act, but then MWT slowly peels back layers and your really get to see the inside of Attolia and come to understand why she did what she did. Also Eddis is such a strong female character. I really hope she ends up with Sophos.

I try to pimp this series like crazy. Janine glad you remembered my ramblings (grin). If I didn’t have to worry about copyright I would have blown up pictures of the covers in my exam rooms. I should write the publishers and get permission.

It is funny in so many books the question is did the author really redeem the hero. While in this series you have a woman commit a barbaric act, but then MWT slowly peels back layers and your really get to see the inside of Attolia and come to understand why she did what she did.

I love heroine redemption stories. It is so nice to see that hero redemption paradigm turned on its ear. But I actually understood Attolia’s actions very quickly and could relate to her soon after she did what she did. I have an affinity for flawed characters.

I AM SO GLAD YOU HAVE FINALLY READ THIS BOOK.
I read your review of QoA back when you first posted it, and thought it was interesting – guess how surprised I was when, months later, someone posts this one on the fansite for these books!
I like your description of Gen as being ‘two steps ahead of everyone but his queen’. It’s perfect. I love the whole Irene/Gen relationship. This book, in my opinion, has even more insights to their anything-but-conventional romance – especially the line when he has the nightmare; the “…and I love every single one of your ridiculous lies” one.
So, if there’s anything you don’t want to be remembered for for ETERNITY, I’d go and edit it out now – your review is now accessible by hundreds of Gen fans from around the globe. Not that I’m pressuring you or anything, lol.
Be blessed in your endeavors!

LOL Alex! I’m glad you enjoyed the review. I don’t really feel pressured since I’ve become used to high traffic here at Dear Author. There’s nothing I want edited out, but if you don’t mind editing in, I noticed that I had forgotten to sign off and have now added my “Sincerely, Janine” to the bottom of the review.

Also, could you provide a link to that site? I’m curious to take a look at it.

Eugenides was too youthful for my taste in The Thief. For me he just becomes more and more fascinating over time, as he matures.

I completely agree. Thief is my least favorite of the series– I’m actually not really a Gen fan. I’m an Irene fan, first and foremost, and then a Helen admirer. (Strong female characters, who have both flaws and fabulosity, rock!) Gen is definitely growing on me, though. He was annoying in the first book, humbled in the second, and mature in the third.

You know, I think I love Irene and Gen together more than either of them apart. They bring out the best in each other. I do agree that Gen was annoying in the first book, but I grew to like him by the end of the second book, and in this book, I really fell hard for him. Irene is a wonderful character as well, but we don’t get to see her many facets explored as much as we see Gen’s explored. Helen has potential, but I can’t say she has captured my heart yet. I love Sophos, and I love the gods.

Totally with the reviewer – I loved all three books, and am really looking forward to number 4 – will give me the opp to go and reread.

I’m a huge Lymond fan – these books are not as dense or complex, but that does mean they are ideal reading for the YA market, and challenging, complex, rich and detailed. My son read them this summer. He’s 11.

I attached a link at first, but then I saw someone had already put it up.

I wasn’t serious about the editing stuff out – I love the review. That was more for the benefit of my fellow Sounisians (that’s what the fandom is called – Sounis). It was a reference to a review we found that said the book was great, but needed more traditional fantasy aspects… dragons were their example. We had a field day sticking dragons into favorite quotes. Can’t you just imagine it?

Yes, that’s something I always loved, too. And the magic that is in it makes sense, it has flaws and limitations. Many fantasy books just say, ‘and then, because Eduardo had the magical staff of goodness, and because he was pure of heart, the clouds parted and the storm was over’. MWT doesn’t do that – her gods can set things in motion, but they don’t just make everything better by mystical powers. I’ve had soooo many books ruined by mystical powers. I despise mystical powers.

i think that i can speak for all your fans when I say that i cannot wait for the next book! i count myself very lucky that i only started on the series in 2006 – a week before the 3rd book came out, because of that, i don’t need to wait as much as those who became fans back in 1995! :))

thanks for giving us Eugenides! I plan to start giving away your books to friends so they can all be excited with me for the coming of the 4th book next year! cheers

“You really do need to read the books in order to get the most out of them. ”

The funny part about me is that i didn’t. My sister got me the King of Attolia when it first came out, thinking i had already read the others. I was a little confused but I loved it and pretty much figured things out from what the characters talked about. I found out later that the first book had actually been around my house for years!

Spoiler
Perhaps it’s just me but when i read King of Attolia I didn’t get that Gen was Eddis’s thief all along. I figured that he became Eddis’s thief in the first book so I was still super surprised at the end of the first book when it turned out he was working for Eddis all along.

@Janine
I haven’t read The Thief yet. I heard mixed things about that one and such good things about The Queen of Attolia, so I skipped right to that one. But now I enjoyed this one so much I’m going to give the Thief a try, requested it from the library today, in fact. :)

I think King of Attolia was my favorite so far, although Conspiracy of Kings looks REALLY good.

The King of Attolia is my favorite in the series so far. But since I’ve liked each book better than the previous one, my hopes are high for A Conspiracy of Kings. Plus, I loved Sophos. He was my favorite character in The Thief. And given that he plays an important role in book four, I’m probably going to have to start advising people not to skip the first book.

There’s a poll on the fansite for these books that asks how old you were when you first read them. I’d be very interested to see what happens to the results if all the people who found the books through Dear Author went to respond.

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